Good Times in La Fortuna

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We left Monteverde for Arenal and the city of La Fortuna. We did the jeep-boat-jeep transfer which takes about 2 1/2 hours. It is about hour on a gravel road, 30 minutes on Lake Arenal, which was very pleasant, and then by a relatively good road to La Fortuna. This was much better than the alternative which is 4 hours on a bumpy gravel road. After Santa Elena, we feel like we are in the big city with a population of 8,000. It is also much warmer than Monteverde with pineapple and orange orchards and a lot of agriculture. However, its primary industry is tourism due to Arenal Volcano, hot springs and adventure. Arenal Volcano is the most active volcano in Costa Rica and on clear day you can see the lava and smoke. Of course, we had to take advantage of the hot springs to rejuvenate those road weary bones. We spent the whole day at Baldi Springs with lunch and dinner and had a grand time. The first hour, it seemed like we were the only guests. The springs have 25 pools of varying temperatures from 32 to 67 degrees Celsius. (Or about 93 to 152 degrees F). We tried them all, but for only about 2 seconds with a toe in the hottest one!. Also, the pools have different ambiances. Some are quiet with tropical gardens, others have music, and others provided adrenalin rush with water slides. Going down a tube, riding up the side to nine o’clock on the curve in the tube, catching some air time after the curve and then landing on your rump before coming out of the tube to hit 93 degree water in an end over end tumble. Nice! If you got a little sore from that, you could also hit the giant Jacuzzi!

Another day, we got another adrenalin rush and did some white water rafting on the Toro River. It is class III/IV rapids which included 12 km of fun rafting in the warmest water and seeing howler monkeys. It was a small enough raft that we were able to do some kayak maneuvers where we layed the side of raft almost on edge. That was a wet one!

Next, we head to the Caribbean coast and Tortuguero Park.

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Photos

Baldi Springs
152 F. Don't go in here unless you are cooking something!

Comments

[Wayne L. King]

hello
Hi Leona & Frank, the rapids & slide look like alot of fun. Rain has stopped here so will coming home to nice weather. Talk to you when you get home!! Take care. Love, Wayne & Phyllis